The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-11-19
Compiled for The Ark0nsdt0 Traveller. SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.

Russian physicians have successfully treated various forms of alcoholic poisoning with strychnine.
 The camera appears now to be quite available at night. A Bermuda pho- tographer reports exquisite landscapes taken by moonlight and even by star light.
 Profs. Trowbridge and Hutchins, of Harvard college, report that their ex- tensive and careful researches tend to disprove the view that oxygen exists in any part of the sun.
 The scientific boring in the soil of the Nile delta has reached depth of over sos feet without finding the rock. A four-inch layer of blue clay has just been penetrated, the over-lying soil from depth ot 190 feet being sand.
 An English gardener has noticed roots protruding from the stock end of cucumber which had been inn mersed in water. The fruits of the prickly pears, which have the same botanical conformation, have been known to root ill the same manner, and the plant has been propagated in this way.
 Certain hollows in hard sandstone near Lima, Peru, were ascribed by Lyell to ancient sea- action before the rocks were elevated above ocean level. A resident observer, however, finds the hollows to be still increasing in size and number, and believes them to be due to cleavage caused by the growth of lichens which live on the rocks.
 The common puff ball strikingly il- lustrates the rapidity with which fungi may multiply. It is said that 300 years would be required for a man to count the spores of a single ball, if it were possible to continue the count ing day and night for that time. Yet favorably planted spore will pro- duce plant as large as the double fist in single night.
 An artificial pumice stone is now prepared by moulding and baking a mixture of white sand, feldspar and fire-clay. By varying the propor- tions and quality of the ingredients, any desired degree of fineness may be obtained. The product is thus adapted for use in all industries where natural pumice stone has been employed, and it has superseded the latter in parts of Germany and Austria.
 ORcHARDIsTs' FoEs.-In paper on injurious insects, Prof. J. A. Lintner placed the total number of insect spe- cies in the world at 32O,OOO. Of those found in the United States, 1000 or 5000 species are fruit pests, and at least 2l0 attack the apple. A borer which had hitherto troubled only peach and plum trees has begun to de- stroy the apple within the past two years. The successful fruit-grower must be something of an entomologist.
 A GERMAN LUXURY.-A powder of pine needles is now prepared in Ger many, and is becoming popular for use in baths. A half-pound or pound of the powder is allowed to di- gest in lukewarm water for a few minutes, when the bath is ready. The principles extracted act upon the skin as tonic and antispectic, and the baths are prescribed for rheumatic complaints, gout, certain skin diseases, and for invigorating the system gen erally. The powder is also used for fumigations in chest affections, etc., or as an antispeptic a little may be placed on a hot shovel and carried about the room.
 A GEOLOGICAL LOss.-A famous sea anemone-a specimen of Actintd mes- em6'ydnthenaum has just succumbed to parasitic disease in the Royal Be- tanical Gardens of Edinburgh, after sixty years of captivity. From it's great age, and its more than 600 inn mediate offspring, it had become fa- milliarly known as Granny" This interesting creature is pictured in sev- eral scientific works, and was visited by many eminent scientific men and travellers in addition to the usual It was fed regularly once a fortnight with half mussel, and was supplied with fresh water after each of these meals.
 NIcARAGuAN TIMBER.-Tropical and woods, according to Prof. K. H. Thurston, are usually distin- guished by extraordinary size, strength, hardness, solidity and dura- bility. Among some thirty speci- mems to which special tests were ap- piled there were some like mahogany in appearance and quality, while oth- CTS resembled oaks and other hard woods of our forests, but exceiled | them in density, strength, elasticity 1 and durability. These, and many other woods which exist in enor- nous quantities in Central American